Inglis faces fight from the right

There are some Republican-oriented congressional districts where bucking the party line on high-profile issues is a smart political play. South Carolina’s 4th District, however, is not one of them.

For that reason, Rep. Bob Inglis (R-S.C.) finds himself in a battle to win his own party’s nomination for reelection.

Story Continued Below

In the deeply conservative, church-filled 4th — home to Bob Jones University and an outspoken and politically active evangelical base — Inglis’ apostasy on issues ranging from climate change to Iraq to the Pledge of Allegiance has already earned him four primary opponents and the prospect of more to come.

Inglis has criticized elements within his own party that argue that climate change is a myth and he supports efforts to contain global warming. One of only 17 House Republicans who supported the Democratic resolution opposing the military surge in Iraq, Inglis has also come out against offshore oil drilling and warrantless surveillance.

His role on the House Judiciary Committee is also proving troublesome. In 2006, he was the deciding vote in preventing from reaching the House floor legislation designed to ensure constitutional protection of the phrase “under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance.

To his detractors, Inglis has changed dramatically from his first stint representing the district. Inglis served in the House with little fanfare for three terms in the 1990s before making an unsuccessful run for the Senate against former Democratic Sen. Fritz Hollings. After that, Inglis returned to his law firm for several years before running again for his old House seat in 2004, when Republican Jim DeMint ran for the Senate.

Critics of Inglis believe he’s become a different congressman in his second tour in office. They point to mostly symbolic votes on a host of social issues that they argue are designed to deliberately alienate his socially conservative constituents.

“He was certainly much more socially and fiscally conservative back then,” said South Carolina Republican consultant Terry Sullivan. “Voting against God being in the Pledge of Allegiance doesn’t accomplish anything for anyone other than earning them a primary opponent.”

The challenges to conservative dogma have sparked the candidacies of at least four primary opponents. One of them is businessman Andrew Smart, owner of the popular Greenville-based Duke’s Sandwich Shop chain, who has the ability to self-finance a race.

Another announced candidate is Christina Jeffrey, a college professor who made headlines in 1995 when Newt Gingrich hired her as the House historian — and fired her days later over past controversial comments. She later ran for Gingrich’s old House seat in Georgia, losing badly in the primary to now-Sen. Johnny Isakson.

Perhaps the most serious threat to Inglis comes from state Sen. David Thomas, who hasn’t announced his plans yet. Thomas, who says he’s a close friend of Inglis, has represented Greenville County in the Senate for the past 25 years and has strong name recognition in the district.